Welcome back, good Reader, it's good to see you again. Last time we left, our dear princess was in a serious predicament, wasn't she? Would the father be considered a failure for being unable to protect his daughter? Could he have done something different to avoid such a situation? Got curious, you don't need to pay any mind to it, to be honest with each other, you're here for the story, not my ramblings. Let's get back to our story.

It is a dire moment for Dorothy, the princess of Stormbridge, as she's about to be the unfortunate victim of an assassination. The man that is about to end her life has his sword high in the air, ready to bring it down on the young girl. The moment that King Frederick Stormbridge's lineage comes to an end, is completely interrupted by an unexpected arrival. A child carrying a shield made of steel, and empowered by mana, comes rushing straight towards the assassin. As any other hero, Ava makes an appropriate entrance, hits the assassin with her shield at full speed, and sends him flying away. She stands in front of the princess, while keeping an eye on the man that was just knocked away from Dorothy. Ava looks at the princess sitting on the ground, and kneels next to her.

“Can you get up?” asks Ava with urgency, since they're in the middle of a battle.

“Y-yes,” answers Dorothy.

“Then let's get out of here before we end up dead.” Ava helps the princess to her feet, and by sheer luck, looks behind them just in time to see knives flying straight towards them. Ava quickly pulls the princess close, empowers her shield, and moves it in front of them to block the attack. The knives fall to the floor, and she moves the shield just enough to see who it was that tried to kill them. Turns out to be Borin, the man Ava stopped from killing the princess in his first attempt.

“Don't make this take longer than it should,” says Borin while he's enveloped in a barrier and walking towards them. Ava doesn't give a response, quickly straps the shield to her back, and turns to the princess.

“Hold on tightly,” says Ava, lifts the princess on both arms, one under the legs, one supporting her back, and starts running away. Borin starts chasing after them, right after empowering himself with mana, which gives him a speed boost. Ava takes a look back, and sees it happen, which forces her to also use mana to go faster.

“Wait a minute, who are you?” asks Dorothy.

“Is it really the time to ask that?” asks Ava.

“You're right, I should have asked before I let you carry me and take me to some unknown location.”

“Its called 'as far away as possible from a literal war zone and assassin.'”

“How do I know you're not one of them?” Dorothy pushes Ava's chest, and Ava steps to the side at the right moment to avoid a beam of mana. The princess gasps and tightens her hold on Ava.

“Do you really want to try your luck with that guy?” Dorothy says nothing, but gives a glare before turning her face away. “Thought so, now hold tight, it could get really bumpy.” After saying that, Ava turns a tight turn to the left and enters an alley, with the assassin following behind.

The chase continues in the alleys, where Ava, while carrying the princess of the kingdom, must find a way to lose an assassin. The small space leaves very few places to hide, and Borin doesn't leave them out of his sight for very long. Along the way, Ava tries to slow him down by kicking a pyramid of barrels, but all he does is just jump over them. While in mid-air, he shoots another beam of mana, and she takes a turn to the right to get out of its path. It is fortunate that the area has very few people in it, or they would have been caught in the crossfire. As the children continue on their way through the alleys of the city, Ava notices the area making a drastic change. She's the only one familiar with it because Dorothy has never entered the slums in her entire life. Ava is confident that it will be easier to lose the assassin because he won't know that part of town as much as her. However, those hopes are put down fast when it becomes evident that he can easily keep up just as well as before. To make matters worse, Ava, who was too distracted by the fact of being unable to lose their pursuer, doesn't notice that they were reaching a dead end. Borin sees an opportunity to finish both of them off, and launches a beam of mana straight at them. This doesn't stop them because Ava sees an open window to the left, and jumps inside right on time to avoid the attack. She runs up the dirty stairs to the second floor, jumps out another window, and lands on the roof of another building. The princess takes a look over Ava's shoulder, and sees Borin reaching the second floor of the building they were in.

“He's still behind us!” yells Dorothy.

“Yeah, I notice,” answers Ava.

“Well, do something!”

“What do you think I've been doing the whole time?”

“Well, you must be terrible at it because you haven't been able to lose him!”

“If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!”

The chase continues on the roofs, jumping from one building to another, and neither the children or Borin is making any progress. However, the chase is put to an end, when the children reach a building that was too far from the rest in the area. Ava looks everywhere, even looking down to see some way out of their predicament. She hears steps behind them and looks over her shoulder, only to see Borin standing at the other side of the roof. Ava quickly puts the princess on her feet, stands in front of her, and equips her shield.

“There's nowhere else to run, child,” says Borin with no emotion in his voice.

“Thanks for stating the obvious,” answers Ava with a frown.

“You're welcome, but let me inform you that there might be a way out.”

“And what makes you think that I'll trust anything you have to say?”

“Simple, I'm not interested in killing someone if I don't get paid for it.”

“You were shooting beams of mana at me.”

“Because you were carrying the princess, otherwise I would've just shoot her.”

“And let me guess, the way for me to leave without harm is to finish your job.”

“Precisely.” After Borin said that, Ava goes silent, and the princess doesn't take it well.

“Are you serious?!” asks Dorothy in disbelief.

“What?” asks Ava.

“Are you actually considering his offer?!”

“Well, with that attitude, who wouldn't?”

“Oh, I'm sorry if I'm being a little tense after spending my whole life in the castle, finally able to spend a day outside of those damn walls and experience my first festival with my father. Only for the both of us to be attacked, I almost got killed by two different assassins, and had to be saved by the rudest person I've ever met in my entire life!”

“Tense is not the word I would use.”

“And what word would you use?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I dare you to say it.”

“Time is running out,” says Borin, putting an end to their squabble. Ava looks at him straight in the eye, then turns to the princess.

“Do you trust me?” asks Ava.

“What? Of course not!” answers Dorothy.

“Good to know.” Ava pushes the princess off the edge of the roof, and she falls screaming for her life.

I think this will be a good place to stop this part of our story, it's my attempt to make a good cliffhanger. Very ironic that I called Ava a hero when the princess is treated like that. It's shouldn't come as a surprise, people tend to reveal their true colors in the most unexpected moments. However, would the assassin let Ava live? Could a killer be trusted at all? You'll have to come back to find out.

Until next time, good Reader.